ST. LOUIS --
Enterprise Rent-A-Car rolled out a travel agent program that
enables agents to earn up to 15% on car rentals.
It is Enterprises
first formalized commission program for travel agents. Previously,
Enterprise paid agents up to 5% commission on certain rentals.
The program is part
of a major push by Enterprise to bolster agent sales.
We spent a lot of
time with travel agencies in putting together our thoughts on what
program would work well with them, said Ron Cerko, vice president
of travel industry relations.
One thing that we
realized very quickly was the marketplace has changed quite a bit
for travel agents. So we needed to design a program that meets
their needs today.
Under the program,
travel agencies register for the commission program and chose one
of four commission rates.
They could say, I
want to be at 5% commission, so give me a very discounted rate for
my customers or put me at 15% and give me the regular rate, Cerko
said.
After that, whenever agents
sign on to sell Enterprise, they are automatically shows the rate
they agreed to sell, Cerko said. Agents always have the option of
changing the commission level.
The program
provides agents with the flexibility of selecting up to a 15%
commission or to continue to look for our lowest GDS rate, which is
available if they want to go with the lower commission, Cerko
said.
So as the travel
marketplace continues to evolve and change, [agents] have the
flexibility to change their commission structure based on whats
best for their business model.
The new commission
program comes at a time when Enterprise, already the largest car
rental company in terms of fleet size, is adding airport
locations.
In the last 10
years, we moved from one location to over 200 today, Cerko
said.
Overall, Enterprise
has more than 6,000 car rental locations.
To contact
reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].